“Paul’s Pattern of Praise and Prophecy” #2 2 Thessalonians 1:1-10

TRANSCRIPT

Date: June 19, 2022 Author: Wayne J. Edwards

In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, the Apostle Paul said, what he was telling them regarding the rapture of the Church was “by the word of the Lord.” In other words, what Paul penned in these two letters is the clearest teaching on the subject of eschatology in the New Testament. What Paul says here is in agreement with the prophecy of Daniel, the teachings of Christ, and the divine revelations received by the Apostle John. Yet, the divine truth Paul revealed is never taught from the majority of pulpits across the nation. The majority of today’s preachers have not studied the subject of the end times, which means they cannot preach the whole counsel of God’s Word. Secondly, they would rather preach the more pragmatic sermons to their congregation than to run the risk of filling their hearts with fear about the future. Beloved, the only antidote to the apathy and apostasy plaguing today’s church is a proper understanding of the end time events. Living in the imminent expectation of the rapture of the Church, and looking forward to the day we will return with Him in all of His glory actually relieves us from the fear of the future, and the greater our expectation of it happening, the greater our desire to inform those we love to prepare for it.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, the Apostle Paul said, what he was telling them regarding the rapture of the Church was “by the word of the Lord.” In other words, what Paul penned in these two letters is the clearest teaching on the subject of eschatology in the New Testament. What Paul says here is in agreement with the prophecy of Daniel, the teachings of Christ, and the divine revelations received by the Apostle John.

Yet, the divine truth Paul revealed is never taught from the majority of pulpits across the nation. The majority of today’s preachers have not studied the subject of the end times, which means they cannot preach the whole counsel of God’s Word. Secondly, they would rather preach the more pragmatic sermons to their congregation than to run the risk of filling their hearts with fear about the future.

Beloved, the only antidote to the apathy and apostasy plaguing today’s church is a proper understanding of the end time events. Living in the imminent expectation of the rapture of the Church, and looking forward to the day we will return with Him in all of His glory actually relieves us from the fear of the future, and the greater our expectation of it happening, the greater our desire to inform those we love to prepare for it.

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In Acts 16-17, Luke documented how the Apostle Paul and his companions left Thessalonica to avoid being physically attacked by an angry mob the Jews had hired to force them out of the city.

What Paul wrote in these two letters is the clearest teaching on eschatology in the New Testament. His teachings agree with the prophecy of Daniel, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the revelations received by the Apostle John.

In our desire to stand firm in our convictions, Christians in the 21 st century would do well to heed Paul’s pastoral admonitions and realize, as the Apostle James wrote, “man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.”

Paul praised the church at Thessalonica for five qualities:

Because of the severity of the persecution they were enduring, some members of the church believed they were experiencing the very wrath of God, which will be poured out upon those who refuse to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

Paul said this glorious event would produce two results:

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